Grimey said:

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Fightin TX Aggie said:

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I understand why they would do the 2nd Age to connect to Sauron and the rings, but I would much rather have seen first age stories. The crafting of the silmarils. Feanor battling balrogs before the gates of Morgoth's keep. The entire tale of Beren & Luthien (which ties in with Sauron). The height of Gondolin. And its fall.

Lots of great 1st Age material. /nerd

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There are a lot of great stories in the 1st Age, but the problem is that there are not a lot of TV mian characters in those stories. There are great characters: the Valar, Feanor, Melkor/Morgoth, Thingol and Melian, Tuor, Beren and Luthien, etc. Unfortunately, none of them stick around long enough to be the main focus of a TV series. The Vala Quenta and Quenta Silmarillion can only be done (imo) in an anthology series

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The problem with anything set during the first age is that all of the stories are tragic. Children of Hurin? Gondolin? Beren and Luthien? Other stories from the Silmarillion? All tragic, all end in tears. All of their victories are short-lived and passing. The setting is only resolved with the literal intervention of the gods.

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For the 2nd age though, you have lots of principal players who stick around long time. All of the elf leadership are in place the entire age, and the important Numenorians (Ar-Pharazon, Elendil and his family) can be there for the entirety if you start during that time. Hell, even the Dwarves could have a few Durins to keep consistency.

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The Second age is still tragic, but at least the heroes die accomplishing something. But I think you raise an interesting point: A series that covers the time from the forging of the Rings to the Last Alliance would need to be carried by whomever you cast as Gil-Galad, Elrond, Galadriel, and other important Elves. We could also have Sauron actually be an active character on this show: Seducing the Elves, Corrupting the Numenorians, Commanding the Nazgul, etc.

Sauron could be such a good character.

DVC2010 said:

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Sauron could be such a good character.

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Definitely. He has to be able to charming, seductive (in a non-sexual way), and intelligent, yet also terrifying, manipulative, and sadistic. Somewhat like Palpatine in the prequel trilogy. Ian McDiarmid did a great job portraying most of those characteristics.

The guy who played Saruman was also Count Dooku in SW right?

I feel that guy, if not for his previous role, could pull off a charismatic Sauron - but he is getting old, actually it appears he has stopped aging because he is dead.

Damnit!


Kudos to the below poster for calling me out on my spelling!
Hmmm

Omg sorry.

I'll see myself out.

So what's the best guess on when this will be released?

Sine poena nulla lex.

C@LAg said:

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Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Well, he's also dead.

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maybe he got better?

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he was only mostly dead

1. I forgot about this thread.
2. I've read almost all of Tolkien's writings but it has been over the course of 35 years and the nerd in me is crying silently that I can't recall enough to really contribute.
3. I will be curious where they film this.

Quad Dog said:

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He also wad probably more of a BA in real life during WWII before taking up acting.

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Hogties said:

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I nerded out to Tolkien in HS (hell I translated The Battle of Pelennor Fields into Latin for fun), but that was a long time ago. So I started watching some clips from a fun YouTube channel called Men of the West. Really helped me remember the stories available in the second age.

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How did you translate the names? Pippinus, Pippini; Galgdalf, Gandalfis; Merria, Merria? Elephantus would be simple enough though.

hunter2012 said:

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Hogties said:

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I nerded out to Tolkien in HS (hell I translated The Battle of Pelennor Fields into Latin for fun), but that was a long time ago. So I started watching some clips from a fun YouTube channel called Men of the West. Really helped me remember the stories available in the second age.

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How did you translate the names? Pippinus, Pippini; Galgdalf, Gandalfis; Merria, Merria? Elephantus would be simple enough though.

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Exactly. Just tack on the proper ending for the gender and declension and viola! That's what a Catholic school education can do for you. But seriously that guy on the Men of the West YouTube channel is next level nerd. I'm enjoying his character vignettes.

wangus12 said:

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Quad Dog said:

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He also wad probably more of a BA in real life during WWII before taking up acting.

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he was also into metal

Shife said:

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So I bought a pair of Damascus steel knives, one I will keep and one I'll give to my dad.

I'm calling them Biter and Beater. Or Orcrist and Glamdring if you're a Tolkien dork like me.

I don't know if they glow blue or not. Haven't come across any orcs lately.

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I prefer Goblin Cleaver and Foe Hammer.

West Texan said:

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Shife said:

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So I bought a pair of Damascus steel knives, one I will keep and one I'll give to my dad.

I'm calling them Biter and Beater. Or Orcrist and Glamdring if you're a Tolkien dork like me.

I don't know if they glow blue or not. Haven't come across any orcs lately.

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I prefer Goblin Cleaver and Foe Hammer.

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well it is the fourth age (or more) so I suppose your Westron nomenclature is acceptable.

It's been a long time sin E I read the Hobbit. Biter and Beater are the names that the Orcs gave them. Or rust and Glamdring are the Elvis names and Foe Hammer and Orc Cleaver are the English names?

ChipFTAC01 said:

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It's been a long time sin E I read the Hobbit. Biter and Beater are the names that the Orcs gave them. Or rust and Glamdring are the Elvis names and Foe Hammer and Orc Cleaver are the English names?

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Pretty sure that the translation from the elvish language of Orcrist and Glamdring is Goblin Cleaver and Foe Hammer.

Shife said:

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So I bought a pair of Damascus steel knives, one I will keep and one I'll give to my dad.

I'm calling them Biter and Beater. Or Orcrist and Glamdring if you're a Tolkien dork like me.

I don't know if they glow blue or not. Haven't come across any orcs lately.

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If they were used properly back in the day there shouldn't be any orcs around.

I'm intrigued.

I hope they do a better job of going backwards than The Hobbit 3-fer.

I read an article on in which the author was curious to see how this show would connect to Jackson's Lord of the Rings (let's pretend The Hobbit adaptations do not exist) and it made me think: I would be surprised if Amazon tries to tie these to the existing movies. Ok, surprised may be too light a word. Shocked would be a better choice. Why?

Imagine that you are Amazon. What are your goals in spending close to a BILLION dollars on this property? I have no doubt that, if this show is a commercial and critical success, they intend to use this as a springboard to tell Tolkien Mythos stories for the next 15-20 years in order to serve as a cornerstone for their streaming service. From this starting point, you can tell stories of the Third Age, up to and including serialized remakes of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. You already own the rights, you have the props in a warehouse that you made for the previous series, you can re-use many of the sets and sound stages that you did for this show, and you could presumably use the same actors for many of the character (Elves are immortal, after all). If this is a success, they could presumably pump out Middle-Earth Media to build up a subscriber base for their platform, in opposition to Netflix, Disney, and other streaming services.

Another thing to consider is that Christopher Tolkien is also very old, and will sadly not be with us much longer. He was opposed to any and all adaptations of Tolkien Mythos, but I expect whoever runs the estate after him will have a more favorable outlook regarding adaptations. I imagine following his death, Amazon will also make a move to secure the rights to the Silmarillion as well. However, they would have to gain the approval of the Tolkien Estate and I think that this show may be on some level an audition for those stories.

Besides just the show and subscription service, Amazon stands to gain from new interest that these shows would generate such as games, toys, apparel, etc. Sure, Amazon has more money than God right now, but I'm sure they are still interested in expanding their revenue makers.

So, regardless of whether or not people want LOTR remakes at this point in time, I'm sure Amazon is considering the viability of it. If a show in the second age, produced with its own style, is a commercial and critical success, audiences may start asking for Lord of the Rings in the same style.

MaroonStain said:

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I hope they do a better job of going backwards being worth the time to watch than The Hobbit 3-fer.

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Fify

Really doubt the deal afforded Amazon unfettered access to the Tolkien universe. They may eventually acquire the rights to make The Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but I doubt it. Also, the rights purchase was for $250 million with expected expenditures of up to a billion on developing the show. So they didn't pay a billion just for the rights.

Maybe I'm wrong.